Alternative Course
by Roseshark
Summary: While on a holiday trip in the South, Luffy stumbles upon a calculating fortune-teller, a questionable doctor and a masked man who wants to save his red-headed friend out of prison. This change of events leads Luffy to spontaneously decide to start his voyage and collect his first nakama there instead of back home.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Majestically, the enormous passenger liner, named "Golden Mary", was gliding into the harbor of Red Leaves. The latter being a lovely, middle-sized town on the coast of Sherry Island, located in the South Blue.

On the left and right the ship was flanked by two equally impressive marine battle ships. After all, this convoy was one of the few possibilities for the average, law-abiding citizens to get from one Blue to the other in a relatively fast time, for example, to visit relatives or friends, crossing a less dangerous part of the Grand Line and the Calm Belt in the process.

Enabling all of this was the Sea Stone on the hull of those vessels, and a certain amount of money from the passengers aboard the Golden Mary.

With a huge splash, three enormous anchors sank into the slightly more of a dirty green than blue harbor water sparkling in the sun, while screeching seagulls drew their circles in the clear blue sky above it.

The long and exhausting journey of the Golden Mary had, for now, come to an end.

* * *

The ship had barely arrived when a few hard-boiled sailors already jumped down onto the pier and tightened additional ropes to secure the ship. Afterwards they started to prepare the gangways for moving out so that the normal passengers could leave the ship in a relatively comfortable and orderly fashion, one after another.

Men in dark blue uniforms requested the on deck pouring crowd to stay calm and wait until said procedure was finished.

The intended order however was abruptly disrupted when one of those men suddenly screamed, "Hey, what'cha doing up there, boy? Stop it right now, don't ya dare to take one more step!"

But, skilfully ignoring this command, one of the passengers couldn't – or didn't even want to – wait any longer. First, two large bags thudded onto the pier, shortly after followed by their laughing owner, who didn't seem to mind jumping the three meters downwards, pressing his hat tight onto his head, so that the fresh sea breeze wouldn't catch it and carry his headgear back out into the open sea.

After the impact, he remained slumped for a little while, the shadow of his straw hat covering his face, before he pushed it back and straightened up.

"You little rascal, what did you do that for?!"

The person in question turned around to the enraged staff and waved up to them, widely smiling. "Thank you very much for the nice ferry ride! See you again!"

And with those words the boy, who looked to be around seventeen and who didn't even seem to notice the puzzled gazes of the other passengers seized his two carpetbags and started running towards the town in a visibly good mood.

That is, until his stomach started to complain only a few minutes later on.

All his plans, if he even had such to begin with, went down the drain and made room for the much more important search of something nice to eat, preferably meat.

* * *

A few minutes before the incident on the harbor, two completely different men were heading for the city gates of Red Leaves overland.

But they were likewise drawing attention and puzzled looks from passers-by, though they didn't even have to act conspicuously to earn them. Simply their eccentric outfits were enough.

"This damn bastard, he'll be a dead man if I get my hands on him! Oh please, let him be in this town!"

The one talking was a tall man in a wavy dark fur coat, who otherwise didn't wear anything on his torso aside from a few leather straps and, attached to them, a pistol and dagger.

"Don't worry, I'm quite sure he won't expect us to chase him all the way down to Red Leaves by foot just so that you can tear him apart limb by limb. Neither would I for that matter,"was the calm and honest response of his companion, a fair-haired man, who hid his face behind a white and blue striped mask.

At the time they reached the city gates,the first guy tousled through his red hair with his dark painted fingernails. "I guess the most effective way would be for us to split at this point to pound the streets and taverns in the area. You turn right, I'll go left. We meet again at dawn, down at the harbor, alright?"

The other one nodded as an answer, before he followed the command.

His comrade meanwhile clenched his fist for a last time, burning anger in his dark red eyes. "Just wait, you quacksalver, if I catch you, you'll wish you never so much as laid your eyes on me!"

* * *

Actually the two men were spot on concerning the location of their target. To be more specific, right now he was having a nice little shopping tour through the weekend market in between the city walls of Red Leaves. A sword casually laid against his shoulder, he was rummaging in the impressive display of the local herb-woman.

Just as he decided what he would want for his own collection a loud cry coming from three stalls to his left, grabbed his attention, "Don't touch that if you can't afford to pay!"

"But I'm hungry and I don't have any money," came a voice in reply to that, at least as loud as the former, but much more sniveling.

"Not my problem, pal."

The swordsman on the herb-stall grinned while he glanced at the little leather pouch in his hand. Its contents had been earned fast and in a not completely honest way.

Because of this he decided that he could be generous today.

After pouring around three third of its content into his own pockets, he struck out, aimed and threw, and subsequently acted as if nothing had happened at all, while paying the herb lady and afterwards strolling away innocently from the scene.

* * *

The leather pouch hit its target exemplarily, nearly shooting its beloved hat away in the process.

Most likely the pouch would have fallen to the ground shortly after, hadn't the reflexes of the lucky victim been fast enough to intercept its fall with its right hand."Huh? What's that?"

After rubbernecking around for a little bit to find out where the thing in his hand had come from, the boy couldn't resist his own curiosity any longer and decided to take a look inside. Just seconds later he started to smile and handed the thing over to the dumbfounded salesman. "Give me everything you can for the stuff inside it. I'm starving."

First the man was a little hesitant, but since no one seemed to want to claim his money back, he decided in favor of his business and ultimately simply nodded.

He was a baker by trade and he had quite the creative wife who could combine more or less everything, from fruit up to meat, with his products. Together with the little financial motivation, two main reasons which enabled him to serve the boy with the straw hat quite a diverse and alluring menu of pastries.

"Do you need a sack for carrying all this stuff, boy?"

The black-haired kid simply grinned, while stuffing the first pastry into his mouth. "You don't have to bother with that. I'm hungry now," he responded.

And in front of an amazed baker and equally amazed curious onlookers, who stopped to watch the strange scene, the pastries started to disappear in the mouth of the boy one after another in an incredible number.

Just minutes later the straw hat wearing boy was rubbing, visibly satisfied, his globated belly. "Wow that was good." After a little musing he glanced down onto his bulge and added sorrowfully, "But a little bit more meat would have been even better." And then sulking: "But who knows if I would have survived till I found someone selling such tasty and big amounts of meat."

A dark, long shadow fell over the boy who, at the moment, was sitting comfortably on the ground and made him turn his head around towards its origin, looking up to it from big, innocent eyes.

"Even if you had found something else, no one would have thrown money against your head and you wouldn't have been able to pay," a monotone voice instructed. "It was destiny itself which lead you here to this stall."

The voice belonged to a tall blond, whose white cloak was fluttering in a moderate breeze.

His red eyes found the gaze of the baker while he put forth his hand.

"If you do not mind, I would like to have two loaves of bread. The probability that I am going to get another opportunity to buy something here on this day is less than fifteen percent."

While his own gaze was still fixed on the baker, he asked randomly, "How may I help you?"

His words referred to the black haired boy, who was apparently fascinated by the stranger's sword, his gaze switching back and forth between the weapon and its owner.

"Your sword is funny. It kinda looks like it has a straw hat – ya know, like mine!" he laughed.

The tall man only threw a short glance onto the person, who didn't hesitate to laugh about the deadly weapon of a complete stranger. Then the blond turned around, his already paid bag of breads in his right hand,and left the market place with big steps.

Left alone with the baker, the straw hat boy seemed a little puzzled, while he listened to the musing of two gossiping women, not even a meter away from him.

"Wasn't that Basil Hawkins? You know, the magician out of the North Blue? But what's he doing here? Didn't they already mention months ago that he would set sail with a pirate crew towards the Grand Line?"

"Don't tell me you didn't hear the news! Apparently he ascertained that the chances of betrayal by his own captain were over eighty-three percent, so he simply… Uwaaah!"

A frightened scream left the lips of the woman, when her field of vision was suddenly filled with the face of the black-haired boy.

"Is this Hawk-guy strong?" he asked snoopily.

She only nodded, unable to express herself in words, and the adolescent left as fast as the wind, towards the alleyway in which he had seen Basil Hawkins disappear through before.

* * *

"Hey, wait for me!"

"I am waiting."

"Huh?" An honest smile formed on the lips of the straw hat boy when he realized that Hawkins was leaning only meters away on a lithic wall. In front of him cards, which seemed to fly in the air thanks to strange, straw-like threads.

The red eyes of the magician wandered towards the young man.

"The cards said the probability that you are going to tell me something interesting and useful is quite high. Hence I decided to wait here for you, intrigued. Now then, why did fate decide for our ways to cross again?"

If Hawkins had had eyebrows, he would have most likely knitted them, when the boy put forth his hand. "You are weird," the kid declared. "Actually I wanted to start with it in the East Blue, right after our holidays in the South. But the South Blue is as good a place as any other. A little warmer though. Maybe it is even a little bit more exciting here, than in my original plans."

"I must admit, I am not exactly able to relate to your words."

The youth rubbed his neck. "Ah, sorry. Do you want to join my crew?"

Immediately the blond turned to his cards once again and started sorting them, while asking in a monotone voice, "And who is this man, who thinks himself worthy enough to obtain someone like me as a member for his crew?"

The boy folded his arms, his grin somewhat wider. "My name is Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be the Pirate King," he announced confidently.

For a while there was just silence between the two men. Then Hawkins abruptly stashed his cards inside his white cloak and pushed himself off the stony wall. "I am going to think about it. And inform you on my decision when we meet again tomorrow. My answer will depend on the circumstances of our next encounter."

Luffy didn't seem really enthusiastic about the proposal. "You promise?"

The other man nodded shortly before he turned around and left, ignoring the yelling of the straw hat boy, since the probability was quite high that everything else would fall on deaf ears anyways.

"Cool, that you want to join! See you tomorrow!"

After shouting this, Luffy, his arms still folded, tilted his head, musing, while asking himself, "But what should I do in the meantime, until he joins?"

* * *

_AN: Hello,_

_I'm glad you decided to click onto this fanfic and I hope you didn't regret it. In case you're prowling around in german fandoms as well, you might have even recognised it (though I might change it here and there a little bit, because I'm not satisfied any longer with some of the stuff my old 'blueeyed raven'-self two years ago came up with). Anyways I finally decided to start translating my own story into english. _

_It's a strange feeling writing in another language and having to look every now and then into a nearby dictionary. Brings you back to the good old school days xD I don't know what I would've done without my betareader...  
_

_I really hope you enjoyed the prologue and were satisfied with the way I executed the so far introduced characters._

_Just a little spoiler ahead of time: You're gonna see some more supernovae in the near future, because I'm a huge fan of the bunch and simply had to start writing this fanfiction back in my old days as soon as I realized how most of them fit perfectly in those typical "positions" on board a pirate ship in the one piece world (eg. navigator, carpenter, cook)_

_ Another big thanks to my betareader zealousfreak27 for having the patience to deal with me. _

_And yeah, I think there is not much more to say at this point._

_Until the next chapter then ;)_


	2. Nice to meet you

_AN: Happy Easter everyone!_

_Yeah! I finished the first real chapter of the story and I really enjoyed doing it. You're going to meet two other characters, you might recognize... and poor Kidd is gonna have a little stroke of bad luck, but I think you might have already gathered as much from reading the summary. Ah and there are going to be the first little action scenes. Writing them in german wasn't easy, writing them in english, well... let's see how you like them ;) _

_Thanks to zealousfreak27 and LaLunaLight for their encouraging words after the prologue. LaLunaLight: I think at least one of your questions is going to be answered in this one, even though it`s quite Kidd/Killer-centric and mainly written out of their perspectives, with Luffy only being mentioned in dialogue. Concerning Hawkins, well, he said he would join the next day, so who knows what's gonna happen until then... Quite a lot actually..._

* * *

"I'm sorry, but I'm quite sure I would remember someone looking like that coming here."

Killer just nodded as a sign of understanding before he left the inn, already the nineteenth he'd visited on his search for 'quacksalver'.

Red Leaves might not be that big, but it was nevertheless a popular and rich trading town. There was no doubt about that. Because of that, you could find taverns on nearly every second street corner.

Knowing this added to Killer's concern that it hadn't been such a good idea to split up with Kidd, as their search might not end up as successful as he hoped for. And if things didn`t go the way they were supposed to, his friend had a certain tendency to run riot.

* * *

"Hey, did a bastard around this size," a hand with dark painted finger nails was raised to indicate the size, "happen to pass by around here? Weird plush cap, big sword, most likely a disgusting smirk on his face and an equally disgusting black and yellowish Smiley-hoodie…"

The face of the red-head came even closer to his interlocutor. "Ring any bells?" he bristled with anger.

Reflectively the innkeeper scratched his head with a shaky hand. "No – not – to my know – knowledge, Sir," he spluttered.

"Argh! Damn it all!"

Quite a few customers cringed when Kidd's palm suddenly smacked into the wood of the bar with a loud and heavy thud. Stabled glasses started to bounce ominously so that the innkeeper, with incredible presence of mind, grabbed them to prevent any further unlucky incidents.

His counterpart observed him thereby and seemed a little disappointed when nothing shattered, before quickly losing his interest with the endangered glasses altogether.

The man with the blazing red hair cussed and snarled before he turned around again, and shortly after let the entrance door clunk shut.

Uncomprehendingly, the innkeeper shook his head, before he focused his attention again on the other, a little bit intimidated, guests at the bar.

In his opinion, someone had obviously gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. After all, this fellow couldn`t always walk around with a mood as bad as that, could he?

* * *

"Wasn`t that Eustass Kidd just now? The guy with a bounty of fifteen million berry on his head? "

The question wasn't much more than a whisper, solely directed towards the three gloomy colleagues of the female speaker.

One of them, a scrawny, pale man with a drawn out jaw and tousled, walnut colored hair pulled something out of his long, grey leather coat and shortly after, a wanted poster was laid in the middle of the wooden table. "Personally I think there's no doubt about it. We've got ourselves a nice potential bounty. Question is: Are we already strong enough to face someone like him or are we going to dig our own graves in the process?"

Another quite beefy and tall man with bald head and an iron hook instead of his left hand laughed quietly. "We're not in the wishy-washy East Blue any more, where the highest bounty is twenty million for a disgusting fishface. The south blue may not be as dangerous as the Grand Line but, aside from the weather, it has at least a little bit more to offer than our home ground. Why else would we have come here? Besides –"

"– who said we would have to meet him face to face? Poison has already knocked down much bigger elephants. All you have to know is how; afterwards you can bring down even giants crossing your path." This proposal came from a tanned man, who adjusted his black glasses while talking.

He raised one of his eyebrows in a disapprovingly fashion as their only female comrade patted his shoulder in agreement. "Could you please refrain from physical contact, Amaya?"

The woman called Amaya was wearing a blue cape, her face partially hidden under a hood.

Nevertheless, one could distinguish her one healthy eye, sparkling in anticipation, as well as the cyan eye patch covering the other.

"Boys, that's our chance to make ourselves a name as bounty hunters! Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" She tapped the paper, showing Kidd's face. "I would bet my second eye on it – that this guy doesn't have the slightest chance against us four combined. Of course only if your stakes were equally high," she guffawed.

The bald man helped himself to the wanted poster and scrunched it with his remaining hand. "I still think we would have made better pirates than bounty hunters. I don't like the thought of becoming the lap dogs of the marines for money."

"Was it really necessary to destroy the bounty poster just to make your point? Maybe we would have needed it later on," his brown-haired colleague added with a visibly nervous expression on his long face.

"We know what Kidd looks like. The marine base where we are going to deliver him, will most likely also own a private collection of wanted posters. So let Bodo have his fun with the paper. No problems on my side." After this short remark the spectacle wearer rose from his chair and added, "I am much more worried about the fact that, while we are still busy discussing trivia, our aggressive target is leaving us behind."

He ran a hand through his dark hair before he continued, "Though tracing someone like Kidd will be as easy as following a loose elephant on the run."

"What's the deal with you and elephants today?" sighed the guy with an iron hook for a hand.

Meanwhile Amaya jumped up as well. "I'm with four-eyes on this one! Who knows when we'll ever get a chance like this again? Let's catch ourselves an elephant!" she announced enthusiastically.

* * *

"Thank you."

Blood was running out of the nose and mouth of the man, who mumbled a vague "You're welcome," before he lost his consciousness entirely and sank to the floor, as soon as Killer let go of his throat.

Their conversation had been mostly one-sided. On one hand, the masked man didn't want to waste too many unnecessary words on the dawdler, while on the other his victim only wanted to see money for information, which again Killer currently didn't possess, so there wasn't much room for light conversation.

But in the end, using the typical means of a crook, the interrogator still got the other to talk.

Apparently luck was finally on their side again; took it long enough.

* * *

Shortly after the man with the white-blue mask was strolling through a silent alleyway.

The tall, closely spaced buildings were colored in warm tones ranging from beige, over yellow until terracotta.

Flower-boxes were attached on nearly every window and in the higher floors cloth lines were stretched from the buildings on the right to those on his left.

Unsnapped pink petals and small dust was dancing in a light breeze, and a few scattered sunrays found their way all the way down to the by-passer.

Killer had to admit he felt a little bit out of place.

Lulled in by the boring atmosphere, the masked man noticed the contact on his left leg too late. At once he turned around ready for the fight, only to discover seconds later a little white cat nestling against his leg and quietly meowing up to him.

It was somewhat ironic that he ended up in a peaceful setting like this, while following a guy whose smug grin alone had been enough to enrage Kidd, and who later on had had the guts to show the red-head up by stealing from him. Admittedly, Kidd may had overreacted a little bit by deciding this was reason enough for a voluntary march to this town, lasting several days, but his anger was not entirely baseless.

Though on the other hand, Killer sighed quietly lost in his memories, Kidd had really provoked their target as well.

Naturally he would help his friend to get his revenge nonetheless.

Still partly lost in thoughts, his gaze wandered down to the purring cat, which was stroking around his feet and apparently had a lousy knowledge of human nature.

Just when he decided to scare the little thing off, he suddenly, mask first, hit a soft obstacle, which blocked the entire alleyway in front of him.

Instinctively the blond pulled out his swords.

Behind the living hindrance he could hear a gleeful voice. "Well, as you can see my big friend here is blocking your escape way. So I would advise you to give us what we want at once, then no one has to get hurt."

Killer wasn't really interested in whoever was having problems on the other side of the living obstacle.

All that counted for him was that there was someone blocking his way on purpose, and those who dared to do so naturally had to suffer the consequences in case someone wanted to pass. And in Killer's case those consequences included cold, sharp steel.

* * *

"Hey, don't you dare bump into me if you value your life!"

The woman, who was spit on, retreated three steps backwards, startled by the harsh tone, before she turned around and quickly left the scene.

Eustass Kidd only snarled.

How long was he going to stray through this place senselessly?

And worst of all, he was in a town full of idiots, who were peeking every now and then at him in a way which made him wish to counter it with a nice heavy strike right into their stupid faces.

But fighting every idiot he encountered would make this dull search longer than it already was, so he forced himself to remain calm as well as he was able to, simply glaring at those who annoyed him the most.

At this point, he sincerely regretted his decision to split up with Killer.

It was clear that the most likely lead would be found somewhere down at the harbor, since the ship on which their target, with the help of his devil fruit powers, had disappeared on right in front of their eyes should still be anchored there.

And another thing was rankling Kidd: It didn't escape his attention that someone was following him.

The big baldhead with the hook for a hand was difficult to overlook, especially since he didn't even try to hide himself, as Kidd could see him clear as day being mirrored in nearby windows.

And the fellow was not alone. Some scraggy brown-haired man was accompanying him.

Both had their eyes locked on Kidd while they pursued him like some loyal dogs.

They had nerve! An evil grin spread across the face of their human target. Apparently they knew who he was, and considering the fact they still didn't give up their pursuit, they felt confident.

Certainly they were after the bounty on his head.

Screw the wasted time! He desperately needed some way to simmer down, something that was at least a little bit of a challenge.

Leisurely, Kidd turned around and folded his arms above his muscular chest.

Noticing how this sudden turn of events caused his pursuers to briefly stop, baffled, Kidd laughed out loud at their sudden insecurity.

The number of passing pedestrians who were looking at him rose, but this time it didn't matter to him.

Continuously laughing, he reached out with his arm, ready to let loose his devil fruit powers on the two men, who finally started moving again, though they were a little bit more hesitant than before.

"Do you really want to deal with this matter in broad daylight with all those innocent bystanders, Eustass?"

The cold voice and a nearly simultaneously feeling of acute pain in his side led Kidd to flinch, albeit only a second.

How had he failed to notice someone with such a massive killing instinct?

At lightning speed, he turned around and gazed into lenses that reflected the bright sunlight.

Immediately, he jumped away from this new enemy and noticed disapprovingly the droplets of blood on the gray plastered stone floor.

Now the nervous glances of the passers-by abruptly changed into loud, panicked outcries as they started to flee if they didn't have any weapons so to speak of. But even those who could most likely defend themselves decided to take in a safe distance from the combatants.

"How dare you?!" Kidd growled, finally completely realizing that he was the one wounded.

The four-eyed bastard had actually succeeded in scratching him with his dagger, while Kidd's attention had been focused on the two other suspicious men.

But his momentarily lost grin soon returned. "Nope, it doesn't matter to me that we're not alone. I can fight wherever I want."

And as if to underline those words, suddenly even the gunmen started to scream when their beloved weapons turned independent: Swords, pistols, daggers, axes, together with nearby metal containers, screws, nuts, hammers and whatever metal thing was nearby, suddenly left their designated places to fly towards the red-head.

The cowardly four-eyes cast away his dagger before he advanced backwards behind the baldhead and the brown-haired man.

Kidd gave a shrug. So what? Then he would simply finish off those two beforehand, which had been his plan anyway.

And with this, the ground started to quake when a giant metal hand hit it. The nice paved road was ruined.

Curiously, Kidd lifted his giant metallic fly swatter, positioned around his right hand, to look beneath it. It was not just the street that had been crashed. One down, two to go.

The wanted man laughed. That had been nearly too easy for him.

Since the tip of a hook cut through the air near his throat, he had to retreat side wards not a second later.

His enemy didn't give the red-head much time for a breather and attacked over and over again, using both his fist and his hook, but in his enthusiasm he didn't realize one crucial thing. And around the time it finally made _click _in his bald head and he turned visibly pale, it was already too late.

The gleeful grin on Kidds dark lips turned wider.

An invisible force grabbed the hook of the head hunter and pulled him up into the sky. His desperate attempts to unscrew the artificial part of his hand in order to free himself from the growing pressure weren't fast enough.

Four meters above ground, he crashed into the next best house wall and shortly after, joined by a rain of wall remnants; he smashed into the pavement likewise.

For a moment Kidd simply enjoyed the view, before he decided to turn towards the last of the bounty hunters.

"Now it's your turn, coward!" he bellowed.

But much to Kidd's disappointment, for the second time this week, his potential enemy had left the scene before even giving as much as a chance of a satisfying fight.

* * *

"Ouch! Did you see that? Were those the rumored powers of the devil fruit? Didn't expect to become witness to something like this immediately on my first day. What a crazy world it is indeed in which I am living in," a female voice marveled.

"Well, that's the problem with wanted posters. They only tell you how much the targets are worth, how they look and what they are called. It would have been better if we had at least asked some locals for a little bit of information about the target beforehand. I have got to admit it was a slight miscalculation on my part that –"

"Slight? You've gotta be kidding me! That guy just cut our group in half in mere seconds!" The woman with the eye patch seemed to be on the verge of losing her temper.

With green eyes, devoid of any emotion, her ally looked back onto the street, where curious onlookers started to gather around their fallen comrades.

"You have to admit that they were the perfect distraction."

"Screw you! Thanks to those two you were able to save your sorry ass. I don't see anything at all worthy their sacrifice. What do we do now?" she sighed.

Her companion thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "We follow him."

"No kidding? How bad is your memory? We've got no chance against a devil fruit user. I'm lucky I realized that before participating in this suicidal fight as well."

"Calm down and don't forget our plan B. The elephant, you remember?"

* * *

Something was not right at all.

Thoughtfully, Kidd touched the wound which the guy had left on him without any warning. Usually it wouldn't even have been worth mentioning, since his thick mantle had intercepted most of the attack. A mere scratch…

Why was his body starting to complain nevertheless? Why was the scenery in front of him starting to turn blurry on-again-off-again, and sometimes completely black? Why did someone like him have to lean against nearby carriages, walls, horses or people, in fear that he would fall otherwise?

"If that accursed four-eyes poisoned me, I will… Argh!"

Once again Kidd stumbled and crashed into a nearby pedestrian, nearly pulling the other to the ground with his weight.

After calming down from the aftershock, Kidd's random victim pushed the red-head away from himself.

Luckily the poisoned man found his balance again and, since he was busy enough with himself at the moment, only casually noticed the voice of the other.

"Are you alright? Be careful where – "Suddenly the civilian stopped halfway through his sentence as if something else much more important had caught his attention.

This voice… Kidd had heard it somewhere before, he just couldn't file where exactly.

He waited for a moment until his vision turned clear before glancing up with a nasty foreboding.

Immediately after, anger welled up in his dark red eyes and he clenched his fists. "You – "

Sadly the red-head couldn't continue, since the poison struck once again and he collapsed once more towards the other man with his black-sleeved yellow hoodie and light fur hat.

Swiftly the stranger made a step backwards, with the result being that Kidd missed him by a hair's breadth and instead dashed against the ground with a silent thud.

* * *

The way was successfully cleared!

Killer swiped away the blood on his blades, observed by a young woman with dark green hair who kneeled next to her companion.

The much older man on her side was busy examining their three former attackers, now all lying motionless on the ground.

"They're not dead, are they, Woop?" she asked him.

"No, I don't think so. But they won't get up again that fast either." He held onto his cane to struggle to his feet. "We should let the marines know that they are stationed around her. That's all. Curse those criminals that they had to ruin our vacation at its first day!"

Since those two had never pestered him, didn't appear to know anything, nor did they seem like worthwhile opponents, Killer classified them as insignificant to his cause to find Kidd's current self-proclaimed enemy number one.

In addition to that he was starting to get hungry, which made sense considering he hadn't eaten anything worth mentioning the last two days, and he was quite sure he wouldn't find something to eat here in this strange alleyway.

The masked man turned from the scene before him, with the intention to set forth.

But he didn't get far since, for some reason, the white cat was blocking his path again almost defiantly.

"Wait a moment. We didn't even get a chance to thank you properly," a soft voice called him back.

"Makino, apparently the man doesn't need our thanks. Besides, doesn't he seem kind of fishy to you with the mask and the weapons… You know what I mean?"

Their savior turned his head towards the two tourists. "I didn't do it for you, but because they were standing in the way."

Then he kneeled down to finally shoo away the annoying cat which, after a short amount of hesitation, actually did a runner.

However, this short intermission was enough for Makino to place herself next to the masked man.

"Can we at least invite you to lunch? I do not like to owe someone my life without repaying him in any way. Even though our rescue may have been just a beneficial side effect," she explained.

Suddenly even Woop appeared on Killers other side and sighed, "Unfortunately in the end I feel the same way." Reflectively he glanced up to the taller blond. "As strange as you may seem on first glance, we actually know quite a few people who are even stranger, at least character wise. Most likely some of them would rout even you," he laughed.

Then the old man suddenly turned serious. "You are no rebel, are you?"

Killer shook his head.

"Are you some crazy marine?"

He gave the same negative reply.

"A wanted Pirate, by chance?"

And another soundless negation was given.

"Nice one. Then we are really going to treat you to lunch."

The invited man flinched, when the old geezer suddenly gave him a pat on the back. "In case you were wondering why we're here, the three of us won this trip in the lottery."

Killer raised an eyebrow, which neither of them could see thanks to his headgear.

"You three?" he asked.

"Our third fellow passenger took off excitedly as soon as we reached this island, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be on time for lunch," Makino assured.

The old man pointed towards the direction to which the blond had intended to go anyway. "Our hotel is just around the corner."

"Hotel Eldorado?" the masked man dropped in without much hope. That would be too much of a coincidence.

"How did you know? We have buffet there. For us it is free, for you as well, since we pay on your behalf. So do you want to come with us?"

Briefly Killer quarreled with himself but considering there was not much to be said against it, in the end he nodded in agreement.


	3. Behave yourself

In pondering silence, Trafalgar Law was looking down to the motionless body at his feet. Dulled, he noticed the voices of the people around him who were asking themselves about his relationship with the red-head and – after coming to a completely wrong conclusion– how he could just stand there, while his friend was in desperate need for help.

In consideration of the fact that he had met this fellow only once before in his lifetime and even then not really on what you would call ´good terms`, this accusation was quite annoying.

To be even more exact, Law had disburdened this blockhead of his money and part of his dignity.

But the guy had brought it all upon himself.

Why was Kidd even here to begin with?

"Hey, outta the way, fur hat! This one is ours."

Instinctively Law staved off the arm which had intended to push him aside.

Its owner turned around and glared at him out of her one healthy eye. "Got a problem with me, stranger? You don't really think you could take me on, do you?" she asked, irritated, before even realizing the sword leaning against his shoulder.

The fingers of the doctor twitched, but before he could pay back her disrespect, she was pulled away by someone else.

"Amaya, would you mind behaving yourself? The man didn't do you any wrong."

The green eyes of her tanned companion wandered curiously towards their new acquaintance. "Is he your friend?" he asked, while pointing with his thumb at the still unconscious Kidd behind him.

Trafalgar Law shook his head, grossed out.

"No, he isn't," he answered plainly.

"All right, then you wouldn't mind if we free the streets of this fellow and claim our reward for him, would you?" The man adjusted his glasses. "We are bounty hunters from the East Blue and he is a wanted criminal," he explained.

"East Blue? The only noteworthy bounty hunter from there I've ever heard of is Roronoa Zoro and that's just because some tourists were talking about him," Law pondered.

The woman, who was busy checking the pulse of their victim, gave the man in the hoodie a cold glare. "You better not underestimate us. Just because the South Blue has got a few more formidable crim –"

"– I'm not from here," he interrupted her, while looking towards the harbor. "Originally I'm from the North. Certain circumstances forced me to travel a little bit and ultimately I ended up here."

"Do I look like I'm interested in the life story of some nobody?" Amaya snapped.

"I think it would be better for us to go now. If you don't object?" the man on her side inquired.

Law glanced down at the big victim of the bounty hunters for a last time.

What did it matter to him if this idiot had stumbled over the next best bounty hunters and failed to protect himself? Now that he thought of it, where was his blond shadow?

In any case, weaklings couldn't pick their way of death. Kidd got himself into this mess, now he had to see for himself how to get out of there again and not drag in some innocent passers-by.

"I've got no objections. Was the poison with which you took him out deadly?" he added out of medical curiosity.

"No, it's not. I usually prefer not to resort to such means if they're not necessary. It's just a very good sleeping potion, which could knock out even elephants on a rampage. I would've been able to kill him, though." The spectacle wearer grinned. "But where's the fun in that? It's much more impressive for a bounty hunter to deliver his prey alive and kicking. Everyone can kill, so I'm raising my level of difficulty to make things a little bit more exciting."

The other man returned the grin. "Well then, let's hope our redhead is gonna enjoy his time behind bars and uses it wisely to calm down his quick temper. Good luck claiming your well-deserved reward."

Law shouldered his sword and decided to head back to his hotel. If he wasn't mistaken it should be lunchtime soon. Something he didn't intend to miss for someone like Kidd.

Meanwhile, the two bounty hunters dragged their unconscious prey in the direction of the local marine base. While doing so it slowly dawned upon them that now that there were just two of them left they could double their share.

* * *

Back at Hotel Eldorado, Killer didn't have the smallest clue about the problems his friend had encountered. Obediently, the masked man followed Makino and Whoop through the gold-plated entrance door.

Not a second later they were welcomed by a black-haired teenager who raised his arms cheerfully. "Finally it's time to eat! I'm starving!"

"I'm glad you found your way here, Luffy." Makino smiled.

"If it's about food, anytime. Huh?" Finally the boy realized that they had company.

Curiously he eyed the masked man standing behind Makino. "Who's that? Why's he wearing such a funny mask? This way it's gonna be difficult to eat, isn't it?" Suddenly he winced. "Ouch! What was that for, gramps?"

Woop placed his cane again next to his side. "Show a little bit more respect, Luffy," he demanded. "This man saved me and Makino out of a predicament, which may well have cost us our heads. Therefore we decided to invite him to lunch at our table."

Luffy blinked, looking puzzled for a moment, before his grumbling stomach distracted him. "Ok that's it, I'm dying from hunger. Let's go already!"

* * *

After paying the man at the entrance, Makino led her three male companions towards the hotel restaurant. The moment they entered the room, they felt the undivided attention of most of the customers.

But sooner or later you get used to everything, even some stranger covering his face with a mask, so after a little while most of the people lost their interest and continued to do, whatever they had been doing before the slight disturbance.

In consideration of Luffy's pleading, they decided to take a seat next to the buffet, towards which the boy rushed soon after enthusiastically, followed by the slightly reserved rest of his group.

By the time everyone was adequately supplied with food, some with much more than others, and had returned to the table, Makino tried to start the conversation with Killer anew. "Are you from here or are you just journeying through?"

Maybe the masked man would've even answered her question if his attention hadn't been taken up by something entirely different: the inquiring young man with the straw hat who was monitoring him insistently. He hadn't taken his eyes off Killer for even a second, though the food continued to disappear in his mouth nearly automatically.

Apparently the boy was aching to learn the secrets behind the mask, or to be more exact: how one was able to eat with it.

After a while, this continuous staring turned out to be pretty annoying and uncomfortable, even for a hardened man such as Killer, who wasn't easy to unnerve.

All of a sudden he grabbed his spaghetti-filled plate and turned his back on the others to gobble his pasta unwatched.

This didn't stop Luffy from extending his neck in an unhuman manner with the intention to peek over the shoulder of his newly chosen person of interest. But he didn't come far, thanks to a cane nailing him down to the wooden table.

"Stop it," Woop quietly mumbled.

"Sorry." Sulking, Luffy let his head remain on the table even after Woop removed his walking cane again, and while he was on it, the boy decided to inconspicuously steal a chicken leg from the old man's plate and nibble on it shortly after.

* * *

By the time Killer turned around towards them, the plate in his hand was completely empty. Without further ado, he pulled out a straw out of his shirt and started to drink his orange juice with it by putting it through one of the holes in his mask.

The beverage was more out of necessity, due to the fact that alcohol wasn't included in the price and it was against his pride to beg for even more than he had already been handed – or alternatively threaten those who had invited him.

For some reason, his actions seemed to amuse the people around the table, at the very least Makino and Luffy. The latter broke out into loud laughter, letting his head roll back and forth on the table, while the first simply smiled and stopped it from accidently falling over the edge with her right hand.

Killer paused to drink and gazed down to Luffy. "He ate a devil fruit." It was no question but rather a conclusion.

The old man simply sighed. "Yes, and the day he did that the disaster started to take its course…" He rolled his eyes. "Now Luffy dreams about gathering his own crew and becoming the Pirate King."

The person in question smiled enthusiastically, before he pushed Makino's hand away from his head so that it bounced back into its usual upright position on his shoulders.

"And then I'm gonna see Shanks once again and fulfill our promise," the boy added confidently to Woops words.

"Do you mean the Red Haired Shanks? One of the four Yonko?" It was the first time that there was actually something similar to surprise in the voice of the masked man.

"You know him?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Not personally, but who wouldn't? A good friend of mine is also anxious to become a notorious pirate. As soon as we get our hands on a ship – which might become even more difficult now, since someone stole all our savings a few days ago."

"Didn't you say you weren't a pirate?" Woop tossed in disapprovingly.

"What's a pirate without a ship or any crew to speak of?" the blond replied blandly.

Thoughtfully, Luffy scratched his head, before he apparently got an idea. "How about you two join my crew?"

The old man gnashed his teeth. "And here we go again with all this nonsense the Red Shanks has put into your head."

For now Killer hid his own personal feelings about this whole thing. "Do you have a ship?" he asked in a business-man-like mannerism.

"No, but I'm gonna get one."

"And how many members does your crew already count?"

"Right now it's just me, but tomorrow someone else said he's gonna join." He counted with his fingers. "With you and your friend we would be four."

"You know that a person in his right mind would most likely never even consider your offer?"

"I'm strong and I'm going to be the Pirate King."

Apparently Makino had decided to support her black-haired friend and joined in on the conversation, turning towards Killer. "I don't want to force you to anything, but it would be rather reassuring if someone like you would cast an eye on Luffy. At least in the beginning of his journey, where he needs all the support he can get. You can fight, we saw that, and aside from that right now you two seem to have similar goals."

The blond turned his attention back to his drinking straw. "Actually I'm already well served with one of those crazy-ambitious-person types." He glanced over to Luffy. "I'm not quite sure if I could handle two of their sort."

"Well, then starting today you're gonna be in my crew."

"I never said I would."

"Doesn't matter. You're funny; you don't seem like a bad person, I like you. I want you in my crew."

After announcing this, Luffy let his gazes wander through the restaurant. "Where's your friend?"

"I don't know. Most likely he's gonna be down at the harbor sooner or later. Right now we're in search of a certain person who–"

Abruptly he stopped in the middle of his sentence. Confused Luffy asked, "Who?"

Instead of answering Killer just pushed his chair back and raised.

* * *

After entering Trafalgar Law let his gaze wander curiously around the dining room of his hotel. Not for long, since a familiar face caught his attention halfway through.

Well, maybe not exactly the face itself, but the mask behind which it was hidden.

With a smirk, the doctor observed how the blond pushed back his chair and stood up.

The masked man made no secret out of his purpose, heading straight for Law, while drawing his two scythes without a second of hesitation, ready to let them cut fresh meat.

But even when the blades started to spin around in an impressive speed, they didn't really intimidate their target. "Fancy meeting you here. I was just thinking about you."

The smile on his lips never vanished for even a second, while Law's voice turned somewhat darker. "I suppose there are people who never learn… Room!"

And with this chaos broke loose in the dining room.

* * *

_AN: And, did you miss Luffy in the chapter before this one here?^^ Well, he's back, and starting now most likely going to be pretty difficult to ignore in the upcoming chapters... Anyway, I hope you liked it and the way there are suddenly joining so many crewmembers at once doesn't turn out to be too unrealistic, even for our straw hat._

_Thanks for your motivating reviews, favs and follows :) _

_By the way, as soon as Luffy's "new" crew leaves the South Blue, I intend to write one or two chapters about what happened to those who would've met him in the East Blue otherwise (might turn ot a little bit overdramatic, though I hope not) and maybe they're gonna meet sooner or later on the Grand Line as well, who knows? ;) _

_On another note: Part of the credits for a bearable grammar in the chapters always goes to my beta reader. (I'm only writing the author notes on a whim, seconds before uploading, after she has already looked over the chapter itself, so we've got a much higher probability here for confusing english or grammar... )_

_Yeah, in the upcoming chapter we're gonna have a nice little confrontation between Law and Killer, with a tiny bit of interference by Luffy :D_

_Anyway, see you soon ;)_


	4. Temporary Truce?

The blue sphere had scarcely started to spread around the suspicious customer when the regular ones already decided that it was too much for them to handle. Many of them tried to go around him, as well as the masked man, in a wide arc while heading towards the exit in an attempt to beat a hasty retreat.

Even before the strange sphere included the entire hall, the masked man appeared atop its maker and tried to slash his throat in a whirl of blades.

But instead of the expected warm drops of blood, only hard and spiky splinters of wood smacked loudly against the white-blue mask, when the rotating blades hit their presumed target.

In the nick of time his opponent had brought himself to safety by switching places with one of the wooden tables. Because of his action he was standing in the middle of a flabbergasted family, one of the few who had continued with their lunch, bravely ignoring the two fighters in the middle of the hall. That is, until now…

Promptly Killer turned around, ready for the next attack.

* * *

"Do those two really want to tear each other apart right in the middle of all these people?" Whoop asked, while skeptically raising an eyebrow.

The clashing of steel got to their ears when Law blocked another attack with his sword. In the meters around them, there wasn't a living soul, since everyone had tried to keep his distance from the swordsmen. Only a mess of broken tables and whatever had been placed upon them before was left at the scene.

"Alright, that's the perfect position!"

"Huh?"

During the period that it took for Woop to turn around to Luffy, the straw hat boy had finished preparations for his very own contribution to the chaos.

"Gum-Gum Rocket!"

And that was about it, before he let go of one of the big stone columns decorating the room and flicked forward with a stunning speed towards the two men opposing each other. The masked man had his back turned towards the people he had sat with at the table before while he was simultaneously blocking the view of his opponent towards them.

The two of them had switched to an alert stance, simply eyeballing each other, waiting for their opposite to make the next move.

At the very instant Killer decided to take action, before the other one could perform another of his odd tricks, the masked man suddenly felt a violent blow against his back.

Not a second later, it carried him off his feet and catapulted him forward in a pace not even his opponent had anticipated who thus wasn't able to react on time.

The final outcome was that the entire hall was suddenly free of any violent troublemakers. Only the destroyed remnants of wood, food and dishes as well as a large hole in the southern wall of the room hinted towards what had happened.

Makino sighed quietly, whispering to Woop, "I think we should check if everything is alright with Luffy, and prevent the other two from letting their anger out on him."

* * *

When the two tourists arrived in the corridor on the other side of the wall, a surprisingly peaceful scene of three intertwined bodies was awaiting them.

Law had the tough luck to lie at the farthest end, and judging by his face he wasn't really sure how to react to the entire situation while he loosened an abnormally long arm slung around his neck.

Thanks to his mask, one couldn't easily tell what Killer was thinking at this peculiar moment but the fact that he had clenched his fists, and a few bumps started to grow out of Luffy's head, spoke volumes.

The straw hat boy himself didn't seem to be disturbed by any of it. Quite the opposite – he waved happily towards Makino with the free hand that wasn't smacked into Law's face.

"Problem solved!" he announced proudly.

* * *

Law finally succeeded in freeing himself completely from Luffy's arm, so that it whipped back abruptly. Apparently he had found his voice again. "What was all that about?"

The culprit only slightly bowed his head with puppy-eyes. "I just felt like it."

Law frowned, before his eyes started to scan the area around him. His beloved hat was laying in front of the giant hole leading back into the dining room.

Then he glanced towards Killer, who was busy thrusting Luffy off himself.

"By the way," Law remembered, "instead of fighting senselessly against me, maybe you should start helping your friend first?"

"What do you mean?" Killer stopped in his tracks and turned towards his chosen opponent.

Law gave him a friendly smile. "I happened to coincidently witness headhunters dragging Mr. Aviator Googles, sleeping peacefully like a baby, towards the local marine base. I presume you know whom I'm referring to?"

For a while Killer remained silent, but the way his mask remained still hinted at the possibility of him measuring up his opponent, trying to guess if he was telling the truth.

"Why should headhunters drag your friend to the marines?" Makino wondered, though she already had a vague suspicion.

Law took the liberty of answering instead of the blond, while leaning his head against the cold wall behind himself. "Because his esteemed colleague carries a bounty of fifteen million berry around with him. Quite tempting for your average, puny bounty hunter, who most likely will never be able to go after the really big fishes on the Grandline strength-wise."

"Fifteen million berry?" Woop's esteem for Killer shrank by the minute. For the East Blue, this would've been an enormous sum. "How did this happen if you're still not officially pirates?"

Killer stood up and dusted himself off. "It just happened. Someone saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, making someone else react accordingly, the end result being property – as well as personal – damage on more than one occasion," he answered with a shrug.

Law stood up as well. "So we've got ourselves a temporary truce? If I defeat you now there won't be anyone left to rescue your friend. He didn't strike me as a person with many friends."

"I'm coming with you!"

Immediately all eyes turned towards Luffy.

Law shrugged it off pretty fast though. "Doesn't involve me. I wish you good luck." With this he turned around to see what had been left of the buffet.

But the man didn't get far, since he suddenly felt a warm hand on his shoulder. "Join my group as well."

Law shoved the hand off. "Are you in your right mind? Why should I?"

"Because I need people like you. You seem like you're strong and you have this blue-bubble thing going on. Can you do any more magic tricks besides switching tables? For example, pulling a rabbit out of your hat?"

Law wasn't entirely sure what to answer, while glancing towards said fur hat which was waiting for him on the ground. "Maybe?"

But Luffy still wasn't finished. "Also, there was that thing back at the market, when I was so hungry I was about to die and you paid for my food."

"You noticed?" Law couldn't hide his surprise – and here he had thought his actions had been too sudden for anyone to pay closer attention, especially for someone as... simpleminded as Luffy.

But the straw hat boy just smiled innocently. "Nope. I just thought it would be funny if you were and if not to see how you'd react, since I think I saw that fluffy hat of yours in the masses there. But now that I know, thanks anyway. So what do you say, do you wanna join us?"

First of all the other man picked up his hat from the ground and put it back onto his ruffled black hair, before turning around for a last time towards the straw hat boy a hand, on which the word "DEATH" was tattooed, still remaining on his headgear.

"I'm awfully sorry but I have neither the time nor the nerves for such jokes–"

"– and believe me if I say you don't want someone like him in your crew," Killer, who had appeared right behind Luffy, added with a threatening undertone. "Maybe there is a chance for me and Kidd to actually join you if you help us. Right now we don't have any promising alternatives anyway. But we wouldn't be able to work together with this wretch."

Luffy pursed his lips. "But I want all of you to join."

Law gazed thoughtfully towards Killer, then to the ground, then to Woop and Makino and in the end towards Luffy. "Come to think of it… your goal is the Grand Line, isn't it, Mr. Straw Hat?"

"Naturally. How else would I become the pirate king?"

"Well, then I might accompany you guys after all. That is, on one condition."

"Being?" Luffy smiled as if his new crewmembers were already a done deal.

"You guys actually succeed in freeing the redhead from his cell and don't die on your escape route. You wouldn't be of any use to me if you weren't even able to do that much."

"It's a deal. Let's shake on it!"

Law hesitated for a moment but then he seized the proffered hand.

The straw hat boy meanwhile remembered something else. "By the way: What's your name?"

"Trafalgar Law, I'm – well, you could say I'm a freelancing doctor. "

"More of a sadistic quacksalver," Killer mumbled quietly, though everyone ignored his words.

Luffy turned around to him. "My first crewmember and I will help you under the condition that you and your friend will join my crew."

"Didn't I tell you, I will only join after you've proven your worth to me?" Law complained in the background, before realizing something else. "What about those two?" He nodded towards Makino and Woop.

The woman raised her hands defensively. "Oh, we're just out of the same village. We're no pirates."

"As if things weren't bad enough already," Woop grumbled. He obviously wasn't happy at all about Luffy finding his first few crewmembers already.

Then he crossed his arms and announced, "Makino and I don't want any part of this. Luffy, if you're really serious and intend to form a crew," he threw a deprecatingly glance sideways towards Killer and Law, "with those guys, then this is where we part company. Right here, right now."

"All clear. Thank you for everything!" With this, the boy bear hugged Makino and Woop for a last time, before he signaled the other two to follow him out of the building.

"Well then let's go… uh…"

An uncomfortable break, before his new companions decided to help him out.

"Trafalgar Law."

"Killer."

Resolved Luffy kicked the entrance door open and threw his arms up in the air. "Let's start our adventure, Trala – Trafga – Traffy and Killer!"

"I won't help you to rescue the brute!" Law urged for a last time, but his perhaps future captain ignored his objection and instead turned towards his masked companion. "Where's the marine base?"

* * *

While asking for the directions, Killer thought about how he should break the news to Kid. In the worst case scenario, they could simply turn their backs on Luffy whenever they wanted, but at the moment a little bit of support didn't hurt. Provided that – he glanced at Law – Kidd was really imprisoned at the local marine base.

* * *

At the moment Trafalgar Law was already questioning if he had made the right decision. Originally his plan had been to found his own pirate crew. But who knew how much time this might consume? He was quite sure he wouldn't follow the straw hat boy forever, just as long as he was of any use to him.

Should he succeed in freeing Kidd, this would be enough proof of his usefulness, at least for the time being. If not and the straw hat boy got captured in the process, well, that wouldn't be his problem. All he had to do was wait in front of the base and, depending of the outcome, search somewhere else for help in reaching his personal goals.

While Law was deep in thought, Luffy was busy begging Killer for more info about his mask, though the pleading simply bounced off on the other, as if the man was surrounded by an impenetrable mental wall.

But one thing bothered the doctor after all: Was the straw hat boy really as simple minded as he appeared or did he just pretend to be?

* * *

_A/N:_ _Well, thinking about a way for them to join Luffy relatively comprehensible wasn't easy (If Kidd had been there in person I doubt Luffy would've even considered him in his crew-.-`). This whole chapter actually strayed quite a bit from its original version, even more so when my beta reminded me that Luffy may still came across a little bit too smart so that I gave his passages even more extra work xD_

_Convincing or not, I leave that to your judgement, but it had to happen somehow, since it was a necessity for the development of the story... Though since the entire story is based upon it it might turn the whole thing questionable if Killer and Laws decision didn't convince you... Hmmm. Anyway, hope you liked it :)_

_I'm actually surprised there are already so many of you (at least in the point of view of a ffnet-newbie) who follow/faved this fanfic. Now, let's hope I won't disappoint all of you in the near future and my work continues to interest and amuse you guys ;) _

_Special thanks again to those who took the time to leave a little review as well. I'm always quite intrigued about which kind of reactions or emotions I can provoke from my readers. (No matter if positive or negative, as long as they explain the negative ones) I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have as long as there aren't too many spoilers involved, and am open to any kind of constructive critic, which might help to improve my future writing or advises me of some logical mistakes I made in the past few chapters._

_So... seems like Luffy is going to try and rescue our redhead in the next chap. Hope you all said your goodbyes to Makino and Woop because those two most likely won't cross our paths again so soon..._


	5. From planned to unplanned

"…and fifteen million Berry. Here we go. That would be all. Thank you very much for making our town a safer place." Contrary to his words the elderly marine didn't really sound that enthusiastic about it, trying to resist a yawn.

But the strange couple on the other side of his desk didn't really pay any attention to his moods. Greedily the woman grabbed the last few bank notes out of his hand and stashed them in her bag.

Her companion meanwhile was following with his green eyes two other marines who were putting seastone cuffs on Eustass Kidd. Once they were done with that task, they began to drag the still sleeping man towards the prison cells while his body helpfully managed to wipe the ground below it free of dust and dirt.

"Your cleaning staff must be really sleeping on the job," the bounty hunter noted disgustedly.

"Got no professional cleaning staff round here, boy. The ones doing the cleaning are usually the newer recruits to teach them a little respect and show them where they stand. Their motivation nowadays is pretty lacking, and you gotta tell them over and over again to do their job right. But since I personally don't mind a little dust in the reception room of a prison, I don't waste my time telling them they gotta clean better under the asses of some petty criminals. Prison ain't supposed to be comfortable. It's much too soft round here anyway."

"Ever considered working at Impel Down? Considering the rumors about it..." He didn't need to continue since the name "Impel Down" spoke for itself.

The man gave him a grim smile. "Not just considered it, I begged them to transfer me! Do ya know that the brother of one of the wardens lives on a neighbor island? I thought I could use him to get out of this place full of cowards and weaklings." He sighed sadly. "Turns out that wasn't such a good idea after all. Some strange family there, I tell ya. But what can you do? Now I'm too old to go anywhere but here, doing the boring paper work of a not even half filled prison. It's too peaceful on this island for any decent work. We're actually lucky we had a spare pair of seastone-cuffs for your prey. Usually stronger devil fruit users like him are a problem of the Grand Line, not around here."

"I see. You've got my sympathy."

The old man glanced up to the Younger, apparently doubting the truthfulness of those words. But nevertheless he forced himself to give out some nice words as well. "Actually it's kinda impressive that you've caught one of those monsters alive and squealing without as much as a scratch on yourselves."

The headhunter couldn't resist a wide grin, glad that the topic finally switched to something worthwhile to talk about. That's how it was supposed to be. "It is, isn't it? Well, I don't mind if you spread the word, soldier. Let those despicable pirates tremble just by the mere sound of my name. It's–"

"–Amaya Scarecrow," the woman interrupted him before she laughed happily, caught her colleague by his collar and dragged him towards the exit. "Let's finally bounce and have a toast on our success, Caesar!"

In a last desperate attempt to get himself the fame he deserved – in his opinion – the man's voice grew a little louder. "Yes, Caesar! Remember the name of Caesar Hemingway, for it will soon be known throughout all of the Blues and maybe even the Grand Line!"

The words had scarcely left his mouth when the door already slammed behind the couple.

Finally, the old man didn't have to resist his yawn any longer and could take a nip on his cup of coffee, which had already turned cold thanks to those two.

Damn them.

The man had at least had the courtesy to pretend he actually cared about the prison and person he was talking to. The woman on the other hand had interrogated the marine about every detail of information they had about their prey, however small it may be, just so that she could bask in the light of fame a little more. As soon as he couldn't deliver any more grand feasts for her –and had finished counting their money– she'd lost interest altogether. While she had been talking her companion had simply stood next to her and polished his glasses with a smug grin.

What amazing headhunters – so amazing, in fact, that they didn't have the slightest clue who their prey really was!

Most likely they were just some lucky beggars who had found Eustass drunken in some roadside ditch, realized they had seen his face on a bounty poster and decided to cash in the money for him.

Well, the results were all that mattered. Kidd was imprisoned. Who cared about the names of the nobodies who had found him?

* * *

The sun started to set over the ocean. Little waves, reflecting its blood red light, swashed against hulls, buoys and pillars of jetties down at the harbor.

This was the place where Kidd and Killer were supposed to reunite at the end of day, yet neither of them was there.

The harbor had become quiet, nearly too quiet.

There were just a few ships anchored and their crews had gathered below deck to eat dinner or were visiting one of the numerous taverns around there.

Aside from the muffled bellowing out of the interior of ships and taverns, the haunting singing of the wind, the calm licking of the waves and the lonely screeching of the last few seagulls in the sky, all that could be heard was the quiet flapping of someone shuffling cards.

Hawkins let his gaze wander towards the sea. If his cards had told him the truth, which he didn't even doubt for a second, he would leave this island behind quite soon…

* * *

"Why don't we just storm in, KO everyone and bail your friend out?"

Killer quickly pulled back the straw hat boy who had curiously peeked around the corner towards the marine base. "Because we want to sneak in under the veil of darkness and try to avoid any unnecessary attention."

"But that's boring!" Luffy complained. He slumped to the ground and made himself comfortable there, while glaring at the still not entirely dark sky.

"Indeed – it would've been much more entertaining if the two of you had invaded the base in the broad daylight, fighting a few hundred of marines in the process."

Killers mask turned around to the speaker, who had sounded half amused, half sarcastic. "Honestly, why are you still here?" he growled at the man with the fur hat.

"Because I stick by my word," Law answered with a smirk on his face. "I want to see how well you two fare, from a safe distance of course."

"Of course," Killer repeated, harrumphing. "Do you at least have a clue where we're supposed to disappear to as soon as we have succeeded in freeing Kidd, quacksalver? After all, then you're gonna be part of our crew as well. Well, as long as you don't break your word, something that wouldn't surprise me that much anyway…."

Law tilted his head; his grin disappeared, while he stared into the distance. "Let that be the least of your worries," he mumbled quietly.

Killer cringed when a sudden loud voice sounded right behind him: "It's dark! Can we finally start now?"

Instead of wasting any more words on the two annoying idiots, he simply nodded.

* * *

"Do you see the open window up there?"

Apparently someone very bright had decided, because of the continuous heat on the island, to let some air in, an undertaking which might have seemed harmless because the open window was located in the fourth floor. The windows in the floors below where either to small, protected or nonexistent in the first place making them useless for sneaking into the base.

Needless to say by now he had also affirmed with the locals that Kidd had actually been dragged to prison and Law had been telling the truth.

Not until after this confirmation had he started to forge out plans. That is, if you could actually call what they had now a plan…

Under normal circumstances, with Kidd as his ally, all of this would be a piece of cake.

Sadly these weren't normal circumstances…

All he had was himself, his scythes, the cover of the night, uncharted territory, a friend in need of help, and a rubber boy he couldn't figure out at all. Not to forget the suspicious quacksalver who was waiting for them at the exit.

Killer sighed. Time to stop with all the useless worrying.

As long as they didn't attract any attention and didn't disturb those innocent marine soldiers in their slumber, everything should turn out just fine.

An open window was ideal for their purposes.

"Are you ready, Straw Hat?"

"I'm ready." The boy let his knuckles click, full off anticipation, and suddenly Killer felt terribly reminded of one of the outbursts of his redheaded friend.

* * *

"He's still sleeping like a log." Nervously, a young marine soldier with light blonde hair peered towards their newest prisoner.

"It's better this way. They might say he's harmless with his seastone cuffs, but I wouldn't count on it. They're gonna have their reasons to increase the number of night guards today. We ordinary people stand no chance against monsters like him." And with that her white haired colleague dipped his swap once again in its bucket before he continued to scrub the gray tiles of the prison ground, as if he hadn't noticed that his calm and calculating words made his colleague shiver all the more in fear. "You and your cursed luck. It figures that we have to be on cleaning duty the day when the first dangerous prisoner in years ends up here."

"Don't say that. If the two of us want to climb up the carreer-ladder then there's gonna be a day when we fight people like him on a daily basis. I mean, compare his bounty to the former ones of the Shichibukai. It's nothing." Was that her way of comforting herself?

"I would love to share your optimism, honey. But come back down to earth: Most of us normal soldiers are going to end up as cannon fodder anyway, never reaching any of their high ambitious goals."

The two young soldiers winced when a loud rattle sounded through the long empty corridors of the base. Timidly the blond clutched the arm of her partner, who in return just rolled his eyes while she whispered, "Did you hear that? I think it came from above us…"

"I'm not deaf!" Unperturbed he shoved off her arm and wringed out his swab. "It was most certainly just a rat or something like that," he bolstered himself.

"You think so?"

"Yes I do. And now stop complaining and continue doing your work. Or do you want to stay here for the rest of the night?"

* * *

"Landing in great need of improvement, Straw Hat."

"Sorry." Luffy smiled innocently up to Killer, out of a heap of dropped out documents.

While shooting through the window, he had used the opportunity to take one of the cupboards standing in the room with him.

Tensely his masked companion glanced towards the door while he drew his scythes at the same time. "You know that it's not really advisable to tear down everything in a building that you want to sneak into inconspicuously?"

The feeling of déjà-vu just kept happening to Killer. In some aspects Kidd and the boy weren't that different from each other. Maybe storming the base in broad daylight would have been even less inconspicuous than what they were doing now, considering the straw hat boy was terrible at sneaking around.

A loud male voice reached the ears of the two wannabe-burglars. "Did you hear that? I think it came out of this room! Be ready to sound the alarm, we're gonna take a look inside."

Lightning-fast and soundless, Killer darted next to the entrance door, blades ready for assault.

* * *

Visibly nervous, one of the marine soldiers glanced towards his colleague. "You're ready?"

The other nodded anxiously.

The last one of the pack stood a few meters behind, a baby Den Den Mushi in the colors of the marine in his hand, in case any problems came up.

Feeling the encouraging warm hand of his comrade on his shoulder, the man at the front slowly pulled at the door handle, cold sweat running over his forehead and down to his chin, from where it dropped to the ground.

The last thing he heard was the quiet rotating of scythes which was accompanied by the feeling of a cold draught and a sudden searing pain in his stomach. Only a few seconds later, he was pushed aside and sank to the floor.

* * *

Nearly soundlessly, the first two marine soldiers were taken out and by now Killer was in the middle of the corridor, ready to catch the last one of them as well. But the man had been long gone as soon as he had felt the threat of death.

All the masked man could hear now were quickly disappearing footsteps, as well as the loud howling of the alarm and the straw hat boy coming out of the room.

"Damn it! Straw Hat, we've gotta hurry!"

Without even wasting his time to take a glance at his partner in crime, the blond hurried towards the direction he presumed the stairs.

Not even halfway through, the masked man met the next marine troop. He swooshed through their rows, diminishing their numbers in an impressive speed.

Blades rotated, blood splashed and men sank to the ground, before Killer swung himself over the handrail of the stairs and jumped down to the floor below, not wasting his time on the steps.

The people he had talked to on the streets had told him that the prison cells were on ground level so he repeated this procedure a few times.

* * *

"Just great. Now they sounded the alarm. Nice rats you've got there, that they're considered a threat for the entire base!" the female marine soldier glared at the male.

The man appeared to be completely calm outwardly. "Well, whoever the intruders may be, they won't come far. Besides it's not our concern. We're just on cleaning, not on fighting duty today. Also we've got a few more guards at the exits from the prison floor, so there shouldn't be any problem as well. The night guards will do their job." Shrugging he wandered to the next empty cell to scrub it.

Though noticeably insecure, she followed his example.

But they shouldn't stay at work for long, since it became loud once again.

This time they heard angry roaring, loud clatter and a sound as if something really big just now cracked into half and it came from the sentry area down the prison corridor.

Therefore she started the same conversation once again with her fellow sufferer. "Did you hear that?"

"I'm not deaf!"

* * *

"Taking out the guards here was pretty easy. I don't see why we couldn't just have stormed the base in the first place." Luffy glared accusingly towards Killer.

First the other man wanted to say something to his defense, but then he gave up and decided to prefer a "No-comment"-attitude, since the straw hat boy wouldn't understand him anyway.

Not receiving any answer, Luffy continued, "Whatever, now we're here. That should be the way towards the cells, shouldn't it?"

There were only two doors out of the room in which a group of guards had been playing cards peacefully until the two prospective pirates so rudely invaded. Even the straw hat boy could come up with the conclusion that the door to the prison cells should be opposite to the one Killer and he had come through.

Without raising his eyes, Luffy's masked companion kneeled down near the man who was lying in between the two halves of what had a few minutes earlier been a wooden card table and took the cell-keys from the belt of their victim. "I suppose so."

Without paying any more attention to the now out cold prison guards the two prospective pirates left the place and the shambles inside it.

Behind the door a seemingly endless and dull corridor awaited them, only lighted by a few shabby lamps hanging down the ceiling every now and then.

Killer let his gaze wander passively through the empty cells right and left to him while he continued walking straight ahead towards an uncertain goal.

That is, until he stopped abruptly when Luffy, who had shot ahead of the blond with the help of his devil fruit powers, waved happily towards him. "Think I found him! Ah, and two cowardly marines."

* * *

"'Just rats, no danger to us, we're safe here.' Any other great claims, while you're on it?"

The two marine soldiers leaned against the bars of the neighboring prison cell while observing nervously the two pirates in front of them, who had opened the cell of Eustass Kidd and bent over the man shortly after.

The marines didn't even dare to think about escaping, not with the strange powers that the black-haired kid had displayed seconds before.

But since they would be ignored completely as long as they didn't attack, the two crossed their fingers hoping that they might turn out lucky enough to live through the day anyway if they waited patiently until the criminals had gotten what they came for and disappeared again.

No need for unnecessary bloodshed, right?

"To me he looks pretty wasted and he's not waking up either..."

Before Killer could react Luffy had kneeled down and started to pull grimaces with Kidd's mouth. As a reward he earned himself another hit on the head. "Stop that!"

Then the masked man pushed the straw hat boy aside and kneeled down to Kidd as well, just to give the unconscious man a slap in the face seconds later.

"What you're doing isn't any better than what I was, you know…" Luffy pouted.

"And apparently it's just as effective as your approach. Whatever those headhunters gave him it's pretty heavy," angry screams came out of the direction they had come from, "as is Kidd. I wouldn't like to fight and drag this heavyweight out of here at the same time. Not now, after we've apparently woken up the entire base. Hey, you two!"

And there went the hope of the two marine soldiers that the pirates wouldn't pay their presence any more attention.

The guy raised an eyebrow in wonder, while the woman hid even more behind his back, as if that could actually protect her from the criminal's blades. "What?"

Killer's voice made the intimidated cleaning squad of the marines flinch, and the two scythes which were suddenly resting on their throats did the rest, while the criminal growled in a low voice, sounding like death itself, "If you value your life then you two will haul my friend back there out of here. Just think of abandoning him and I will cut you up from head to toe if it's the last thing that I do, understood?"

The marine soldiers broke out in cold sweat while they nodded obediently.

Louder, Killer turned around to Luffy who shouldn't have noticed the short interaction between the masked man and his victims, because he was once again trying bravely to wake up Kidd. "This time we're gonna leave through the main entrance. Everyone knows we're here already anyway. The cowards consented to haul Kidd to safety. Luffy, you take the lead and I'll back you all up."

The apparently clueless Luffy smiled towards the two marines. "Thanks for helping us. Then let's go!"

"There they are! Get them!" The first marines were nearing in and Luffy started sprinting right towards them, ready to fight.

* * *

Trafalgar Law sighed quietly, while he observed out of his hideout – the second floor of a residential building with a view to the plaza in front of the marine base – how all the lights inside the marine building were suddenly switched on and angry voices as well as the alarm sounded out of it.

It didn't take long for the first of the marine soldiers to appear on the scene.

Men with rifles gathered around the entrances aiming at the doors, where they expected the troublemakers to come out from sooner or later.

Naturally all this turmoil didn't escape the local residents, so many of them turned on the lights in their houses as well before opening their windows and looking out of them hoping to see some action.

If it had been their plan all along to get the undivided attention of hundreds, Luffy and Killer had done a marvelous job.

Hadn't they said they had a plan how to sneak in and out without getting discovered by the entire base?

Well, if they succeeded in getting Kidd at least out here on the square, Law might give them a hand, simply because this chaos was quite amusing in its own way.

At least it was dark, aside from the lights inside the houses, and no one paid attention to the buildings which weren't illuminated – or anything else that wasn't the entrance to the marine base for that matter. Ideal conditions for another of Law's 'magic tricks,' the one that involved a blue sphere, that used the cover of darkness to spread inconspicuously.

* * *

It was time. The rubber man pushed open the doors and looked right into the muzzles of a few dozen rifle barrels.

The first few bullets were shot and dashed towards the newcomers.

Suddenly the boy started to inflate, while shouting something like "Gum Gum Balloon!"

First, it seemed like that wouldn't change anything, the bullets simply had a bigger target to hit, but this presumption changed the moment they were repelled and threatened their very own shooters, who quickly tried to take shelter, and even after the little bullet rain ceased, weren't really enthusiastic about attacking again.

"What are you idiots doing?" an elderly more experienced marine soldier complained. "If bullets don't work, then use your swords on the boy! Are you men or cowards?"

Those words alone were impressive enough for the men to gather new courage and try again.

Now part of them tried their best in close combat with Luffy, while others attempted to use this distraction to aim their guns on Killer and the still dormant Kidd, as well as his two marine pack donkeys.

"Ten more steps, nine, eight, seven… come on… I can't extend further than this and hold this up much longer…"

* * *

The group of nocturnal invaders was hard to get, but that didn't change the fact that they were still human!

The exhaustion was clear to see in the face of the rubber-man and by now he had also received the first few bloody scratches from the blades of his attackers.

From the beginning Kidd had been out of commission and his two carriers plain frightened to death.

That left only the masked man for repelling and avoiding the bullets coming at his little group, while at the same time protecting the ones behind him. At first the blond had done a marvelous job, but since they now came out of more or less every direction even he hadn't been left totally unscratched.

One of the projectiles had pierced through his arm and rendered it useless, so that now he was limited to one of his scythes only.

It wouldn't take much more before they were finished.

"Fire!"

Once more the bullets were nearing in on the masked guardian and his three fosterlings but even when he lifted his healthy arm for defense it was obvious that this time he wouldn't make it and be able to avert them all.

His movements were dull, much slower than before and his only ally, the straw hat boy, was still busy with the attacking swordsmen. They charged at him continuously, even though he swept them away with a long leg again and again, every time panting a little bit more than before himself.

But suddenly confusion spread over the whole square.

Instead of human flesh, the bullets honeycombed a precious wardrobe with floral pattern.

Kidd and his carriers on the other hand had suddenly turned into a big wooden table and two chairs, which apparently all belonged to the same set of furniture.

Even the straw hat boy disappeared and the sharp blades cut through a soft bunch of blankets and pillows so that myriads of little, fluffy white feathers flew into the bewildered faces of the swordsmen.

"What the hell?" The man who had given the command to shoot let his gaze wander over the square but far and wide no trace of the criminals.

He and his men were the only ones left.

* * *

Law dissolved his "room", gazing out of the dark window for a last time to revel in the puzzled faces of their enemy, before he turned around to his new partners in crime, still sneering.

The people he had rescued last minute were currently randomly spread throughout the entire, now unfurnished, living room, which was currently illuminated only by the pale moonlight falling through its two windows.

"Looks, like you actually succeeded, captain."

"Did I?" Still gasping for air Luffy lifted his head a little and his eyes searched for Law, who was not much more than a dark silhouette in front of a window. Then the head of the rubber-man sagged against the wooden floor once again.

The exhausted boy simply closed his eyes and smiled, while he announced, "Cool! Welcome to my crew."

* * *

_A/N:_

_Killer got what he came for (and a little more), Kidd is out of prison (and still not responsive), two marine wimps survived, the rest of the marine base is confused, Luffy got his first few crewmembers and a little bit of fame..._

_It's a wrap!_

_Hope you liked it :)_

_Out of sheer curiosity: Did I use to many transitions in this chapter for your taste? (I love it to switch inbetween perspectives, but sometimes I may overdo it a little...)_

_I mean there're gonna be less in the next few chapters but still, I don't wanna confuse you unnecessarily just because it's fun for me to see through the eyes of every (even minor) character involved in my story..._

_Thanks for favs, follows and reviews :)_

_To answer the questions in the reviews (little spoiler alert here, if you like surprises just skip them and congratulations! You finished this chapter successfully ;) :_

_avatoa("What about the original Straw Hats? Will they join up, too?"):_

_Hm, that's actually an interesting question you've got there ;)_

_Let me put it this way: This story centres around Luffys "new" crew (Killer, Law, Hawkins, Kidd and whoever else will join in the near future) But there might come a time (near the end of the story) where Luffy ends up with his "old" crew anyway. (Not just him actually) Depends on the circumstances. But as you said, right now the "old" strawhats are kinda screwed if he doesn't show up at the appropriate time. They might not be the main characters this time, but I won't let this chance slip by either ;) (Maybe you could call them important supportive characters, since without them this whole principle of an alternative crew wouldn't work?) I want them all to at least once meet Luffy on the Grand Line so I have to think up some (hopefully convincing) alternatives to get them out of their personal messes without our beloved straw hat captain's help. Following this, I'll sprinkle in here and there "old Straw Hat"-chapters/parts to show you how they (and maybe others who were greatly influenced by Luffys actions) are doing on their own._

_LaLunaLight("Only Supernovas as Luffy's future crewmates?"):_

_There once was a time where I wanted a crew composed of supernovas, but plans change (not completely but partly) Let's just say not all supernovas might join (just those who inspired me to write this story) and there might be others to join as well :)_


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